ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� The judge overseeing the against Donald Trump and others on Friday rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to invalidate .
Chesebro, were charged in August 2023 in a sprawling indictment that accused them of participating in a sweeping scheme to try to illegally overturn in Georgia. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months later after reaching a deal with prosecutors just before he was to go to trial.
His lawyer t asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to invalidate the plea after McAfee in September to which he had pleaded guilty. Defense attorney Manny Arora wrote that a failure to invalidate the plea would violate Chesebro's constitutional right to due process.
McAfee's order denying that request said the motion was procedurally defective "in more ways than one.鈥�
He noted that while Chesebro's filing challenges the validity of the indictment, he 鈥渁lready submitted a plea in response to this indictment 鈥� one of guilt.鈥� While Chesebro did raise a pretrial challenge prior to his plea, he did not make the argument that ultimately caused the judge to throw out that charge.
Arora had also argued in his filing that his request could be considered a 鈥渕otion in arrest of judgment." But McAfee said that, technically, no judgment has been rendered against Chesebro because he was sentenced under Georgia's First Offender Act, which 鈥渄efers further proceedings while the charge remains pending for the duration of the sentence.鈥� Under that law, if Chesebro completes his probation without violating the terms or committing another crime, his record will be wiped clean.
The request is also too late, McAfee wrote, because a motion in arrest of judgment must be filed during the term when a judgment is entered.
Arora did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on McAfee鈥檚 ruling.
Prosecutors have said Chesebro was part of a plot to have a group of 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely saying that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state鈥檚 鈥渄uly elected and qualified鈥� electors. He pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents related to the the filing of that document with the federal court in Atlanta.
Chesebro was one of four people in the case in the months following the indictment. The rest have pleaded not guilty.
The case against Trump and the remaining defendants is mostly on hold pending of an on the case despite what defense attorneys say is a conflict of interest.
Even if the appeals court rules in Willis鈥� favor, the fate of the case against Trump is unclear since he is set to be sworn in again as president next month.
Kate Brumback, The Associated Press
